Sheffield terror trial: Defendant’s ‘I support Islamic State’ message

An image released by Islamic State of smoke from the detonation of the 2,000-year-old temple of Baalshamin in Syria's ancient caravan city of Palmyra.

Published:16:08Tuesday 10 May 2016

A Sheffield woman accused of spreading terrorist propaganda and execution videos sent a message saying ‘I support Islamic State’, a court heard.

Zafreen Khadam, aged 32 and of Vincent Road, Sharrow, made the statement in a WhatsApp message to a man who was questioning why she had sent him a link to an IS video called ‘So They Kill and Are Killed’.

Sheffield Crown Court heard the man said IS are ‘Israel’s secret intelligence service and not Islamic’.

A response sent from Khadam’s phone said: “They are more Islamic than you. I support the Islamic State, you are wrong.”

When the man responded by saying there is no verse in the Koran that suggests killing people, she said: “You don’t want to accept it because you are afraid of jihad.”

A further message was sent from Khadam’s phone calling the man a coward.

It came as members of the jury were shown the disturbing videos she is alleged to have shared on Twitter and WhatsApp, with one including images of a man being burnt alive, someone having their throat cut and captured Kurdish fighters being paraded through crowded streets in cages before being lined up on their knees for execution.

Another video showed children under ten years old doing military training in camouflage gear, assembling weapons, and children in military clothing saying ‘We are going to kill you disbelievers, we will slaughter you’.

Khadam, who denies ten counts of dissemination of terrorist publications, is also alleged to have shared a link on Twitter to a four-page document supporting the aims of the Islamic State and detailing potential targets such as France and England. The document states England ‘will pay sooner or later’.

Khadam is also alleged to have sent a video speech from IS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in WhatsApp messages to a number of contacts, including her three sisters.

She is said to have sent a message to one sister saying: “I’m not for them or against them, I’m an activist.”

Khadam was also contacted by another man asking her to send him a picture of a Jordanian pilot who had been burnt alive. She said in relation to the pilot’s death: “What goes around, comes around’, followed by a smiley face symbol.